five things Friday: June TBR edition

Here we go with the unofficial kickoff weekend of summer - which means it's a great time to think about summer reading! And my June TBR is going to reflect that (also a lot of blue, apparently - dreaming of the beach, much?).

 

There are some great summer reading guides out there - I've enjoyed checking out Modern Mrs. Darcy's Guide for the last several years, and I was even more excited for the one from Sarah's Bookshelves for this summer now that I have been listening to her podcast and enjoying the recommendations. So I started my June summer reading by picking a few books from those lists: the (slightly) backlist option The Boys' Club, a page-turner about the underbelly of "Big Law" and being a woman working in this male-dominated field, from Sarah's list (bonus that it's super easy to get from the library right now since it's an older book); the YA book Tokyo Ever After (billed as Crazy Rich Asians meets The Princess Diaries - fun!) from Anne's list, and also I'll Be Your Blue Sky from her 2018 list (which was also highlighted again as a top past pick in the 2021 list, and I happen to have sitting on my Kindle unread).

A couple of other unread Kindle books will round out the first month of summer: obviously it seems like the perfect time to finally read Jennifer Weiner's Big Summer, which sounds like it'll be a great juicy beach read - juicy being exactly what I want in the summer. And the publisher sent me The Sinful Lives of Trophy Wives (publishing July 20) on Netgalley, and beach reading seems like a good time to check out this type of brain candy neighborhood drama/mystery too. Will report back on how they are!

Now for a recap of my May reading list, which was quite good overall...

• Firekeeper's Daughter: this book packs in so much - a great YA read in general with memorable protagonist and a dash of romance, but also some undercover mystery solving, exploration of Native American culture, reflection on communities affected by drug epidemics, and more. Read my full review here - and also read this book as it's great! ★★★★.5
• The Birchbark House: this is an #OwnVoices pick from before that was really a thing... I love Louise Erdrich's adult books, which often center on more modern-day Native American characters in the Minnesota area and are super well written, so it was fun to pick up this kids' book when I was at the bookstore she owns in Minneapolis...and then it languished on my shelf. Glad I finally picked it up - feels like Little House on the Prairie is a great comp title for this in terms of era, middle-child protagonist who is trying to figure out her own place and will capture your heart, and themes of family, working together for survival while still being a kid, etc. - but all from a needed Native American perspective. Also a comp in terms of pace - it's a bit slow. But overall, great to put in the hands of kids who might be reading the Little House series to give a full picture of the era. ★★★.5
• Big Magic: I have heard such good things about Elizabeth Gilbert's popular book on living a creative life, and I've had it sitting on my Kindle unread forever - and unfortunately probably picked the wrong time to finally get around to it as it's not a time in life I'm all that receptive to inspiration/passions/dreaming about living creatively...though I think she has good things to say about all of these (and found the inside info on her writing life interesting), and can see how others would be inspired, I am in the midst of prepping for maternity leave and thinking about life that will be focused on a newborn, and so I just didn't find much personal inspiration or application here at the moment. ★★★
• The Poet X: but talk about feeling inspired - me after reading THIS book. From the amazing writing and also from the protagonist who is so strong and talented and flawed and real and unforgettable. My new favorite novel in verse - see full review here. ★★★★★
• Super Fake Love Song: had high expectations for this YA read after loving the author's debut one, Frankly in Love. This has some similar themes of family expectations/navigating culture as the child of an immigrant, but it's more of a very snarky rom-com with a few twists. Sunny Dae and his friends have very solidly been put into the "nerd" camp and for the most part they love it, just doing their own thing. But when  Sometimes the snarky/clever narration got a little tiring, and also I'm not a big fan of the secret identity to impress a crush trope (because you KNOW that secret is coming out which will make him lose the girl, and he's going to hurt his friendships in the meantime, and it makes me squirm till it's all over and sorted out), so while it was a fairly fun read, it felt a little long at times to me. Did love though how the author used Sunny's trying on a new persona to explore the idea of identity in general, and how we might create what we want ours to be (so faking being "cool" really wasn't all bad, because it made Sunny more confident), and how so many things are actually putting on a costume to assume an identity, whether that's a sports uniform, a video game role playing outfit, etc. The way this was also illustrated by seeing the full picture of the football jock/bully character was also satisfying for me. ★★★

Also read and loved in May: People We Meet on Vacation and Life's Too Short in the romance/rom-com area; The Last Thing He Told Me in the domestic thriller-lite/brain candy that still makes you think category; and Ordinary Grace in literary fiction/coming of age/mystery.

What was your best book of the month, or most anticipated book for the coming month? Or for that matter - of the weekend (I've got Northern Spy in my bag) ... happy long-weekend reading, all!

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wearing lately: black & tan (again)

I feel like I do a "black & tan" outfit at least once per season, for the past many years - clearly it is timeless! (I'm going to frame it as that, rather than as "same old"...) In this rendition, the black part is new - this black (non-maternity) drapey button-down from Madewell that I'm sure will turn out to be a great closet staple both now and postpartum - and it freshens up the quite old (and shown a zillion times in outfit posts already) tan elements, my ballet flats and cross-body.

 

'Twas very exciting to have the perfect weather and occasion for such an outfit - going to get my haircut after being 2+ weeks out from my 2nd vaccine dose! The combination of not really having anywhere to wear outfits + being pregnant and having weird options available in my wardrobe + having seriously terrible split ends can lead to a bit of blah. The most classic of combinations is an excellent way to start a feeling stylish comeback. 

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reading lately: coming of age at any age

A recent episode of Novel Pairings Podcast got me thinking about how "coming of age" stories don't only have to be about young people, or books in the middle grade/YA genre, and this theme inspired my latest grouping of books here... They talked about how a coming of age can be a bit more broadly defined as a character coming into their own, or finding an identity that truly fits themselves, and this can happen at any age. A few recent books I've read actually are YA and have the more traditional component of moving from childhood to (young) adulthood, especially through differentiating oneself from the family/family's expectations, but then I thought of a few books I really liked that could fit the broad description - from coming into a sexual identity later in life to finding a new purpose or identity after tragedy.

What Comes After

Isaac is left alone in deep grief in his sprawling old home after a divorce and the murder of his son Daniel, while his neighbor Lorrie is separated from him by much more than a fence now, because it is her son who killed Daniel, and then took his own life. Meanwhile, 16-year-old Evangeline has been abandoned by her single mother and is now left pregnant and homeless, until she shows up on Isaac's doorstep and he takes her in. (The reader knows she has some connection to the dead boys, but the parents aren't aware of it yet.) These individuals, facing their own grief, crises of faith, and self-doubt, manage to come together in support of each other - though it is not easy and has major bumps along the way as they learn to really let go of anger and loss, to be willing to accept help, and especially to confront how their personal tragedies overlapped in relationship to the boys, and how they can heal from that to have a relationship with each other going forward. Evangeline of course has a coming of age story in becoming a teenage mother, but all three have this life transformation in deciding who they will be after moving on from the tragedies of their past. In an interview (this one - a great listen) the author described the book as a "why done it" rather than a "who done it" and I think that's an excellent way to put it. You know from the get-go what happened with the murder-suicide and who did it, but there still is some propulsive plot behind unraveling what led up to the murder in flashbacks and in slowly understanding Evangeline's full story and her relationship with the boys. This combines with an essentially character-driven novel about Isaac, Evangeline, and Lorrie to create an all around hard-to-put-down-yet-literary read that is very moving and will stick with me for a long time. There's some hard stuff of course, with the violent deaths, the terrible grief, the abuse Evangeline has endured, but it is not an overly graphic/heavy book, and the themes of forgiveness, found family, faith, and moving on from tragedy through love and kindness ultimately give it a sense of hope and redemption. And final thought: the exploration of Isaac's Quaker faith was both fascinating and provided some of the most beautifully moving parts of the book. Loved that that was part of the story.

4.5/5 stars - winner of an April BOTM pick after hearing a good recommendation on Sarah's Bookshelves Live, highly recommend to a broad range of readers as it covers a range of genres and will have wide appeal

Under the Rainbow

After a national nonprofit has named Big Burr, Kansas, as the most homophobic town in America, they send in a queer task force to live in the community for two years, to run townhalls and other outreach, trying to change hearts and minds by example. The stories in this book are snapshots over those two years of various individuals' experiences and relationships. This format of connected short stories (think Kitchens of the Great Midwest) was unexpected for me at first and a little disappointing when I hit chapter 2, because I was really intrigued by the main character of the first one (the high school-aged daughter of the task force's leader, who of course was very reluctant to move from California, and also deals with feelings of not being accepted by her mom for not also being gay) and surprised when the next chapter was about someone entirely different, at a different point in those 2 years - but in the end, I thought it was really a perfect format because it allows us to see a range of people, both within the organization and the small town, and how they are reacting or evolving. And that's where I think of this as a coming-of-age type of story - for some of the characters it's coming to terms with their own sexuality, like a high schooler who is finding encouragement to become the first in his school to come out or the man who has been married for a long time being able to un-repress his sexuality; for some it's standing up for their beliefs even if they go against the small town's attitudes, or confronting their religious intolerance and learning to live with the fact of others' sexual orientations and experience; and even for the social activists there's an evolution of their attitudes about people they might have simply written off as repressed or bigoted. And in the end we do get to come back to a particular character who brings everyone together for a wedding, and it's a lovely transformation. Warm, witty, easy to read, but lots to think about and discuss here about belonging, acceptance, the range of sexuality and gender identifications, and learning to live with one another.

4/5 stars, maybe a bit on-the-nose in terms of the lessons it's teaching, but I still thought it was thoughtful and moving and gave me an overall feeling of hope when I closed the book

 

Firekeeper's Daughter

Daunis Fontaine has been caught between two worlds her whole life: living with her her white mother's well-to-do family but always wanting to maintain her strong connection to her father's Ojibwe family and cultural roots. Now, as she graduates from high school she is even more caught between two worlds, deciding whether to continue her plan to go off to college or defer entrance to stay home and help with her sick grandmother and her mother who is grieving the loss of Daunis' uncle by apparent suicide. One bright spot is meeting Jamie, the new kid on the local all-star hockey team, and striking up a friendship (and maybe more - he's cute...) - until she learns that he's not quite who he seems, and she gets wrapped up in an undercover FBI investigation of a strong and dangerous strain of meth, the origins of which have been traced to her tribe's island. While using her scientific and also native culture/plant smarts to help investigate, she wrestles at the same time with what this all means for her community and the people who are hurting in it because of the meth problem, but also in wanting to stick up for her community to the FBI and not share all of its secrets. Daunis is an amazing protagonist - super smart and savvy, hard working, dedicated to her family, knows her own mind, but also is still a flawed teenager who sometimes makes the kinds of selfish or snap decisions that they make. The FBI investigation will have you on the edge of your seat at times, but Daunis really is what makes the whole book propulsive, as you follow and root for her on every decision having to do with her family, her cultural heritage, her losses and grief, her love life, etc. Like with What Comes After, this isn't quite your traditional coming of age story in that you get a whole range of genres in one, done in a way that works seamlessly to make it hard to put down and the characters hard to forget. Here of course you get YA feels in general with the friendship/romantic interest/starting college aspects, but also it's a mystery, a sports book (lots of hockey), an exploration of a Native American culture (which also gives it a very strong sense of place), and even an exploration of what opioid/meth epidemics are doing to communities. There's a lot going on, but it came together in the end.

4.5/5 stars, snapped up as a BOTM add-on because it was high on my list of anticipated upcoming reads, recommend for people who like issues-based YA like Angie Thomas' work

The Poet X

Xiomara is a teen in Harlem who feels at odds with her family and community, both "unheard and unable to hide" as the cover blurb says. She's struggling to get along with her mother's strict Catholic faith, with the contrast between herself and her high-achieving twin brother, even with her own body that seems to take up too much space and attract attention that she's not seeking (though meanwhile she does have a developing interest boys that is truly a no-no in her strict Dominican family). She has always been drawn to writing poetry about her feelings and experiences, but when an English teacher introduces her to a slam poetry club, she really starts to find her own voice - despite having to hide her participation from her family. It of course all comes to a head eventually when they find out that she has been going there instead of catechism class, and the way Xiomara captures all of the events and emotions around this in her poetry is just mesmerizing. I've enjoyed other YA novels in verse, so I knew what to expect in general - but found that somehow the words on these pages just sang out even more powerfully than other books I've read. Xiomara is not a character that I really would personally relate to in terms of experiences or personality, but wow, did I ever feel like I got a true and beautiful sense of her heart, her struggles, and her dreams through her poetry (also loved that this part of her character gave an obvious reason for the novel to be written in verse - it's like a diary of Xiomara's life, but this is simply the way she writes, as a poet). Other #ownvoices YA books I've read recently that have some similarities with the strict cultural expectations of girls + the protagonist who chafes against or just doesn't fit that mold and is ready to come of age and fly the nest that I would also recommend: Furia and I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter. They've all got such grit and beauty to them, with unforgettable protagonists. Solo would be another good read-alike, with some of the family themes and the novel-in-verse style. And some of the themes related to being a woman and being allowed to take up space in the world without censure from men for it, rendered so powerfully in poetry, made me think of the excellent poetry collection What Kind of Woman. 

5/5 stars, picked up because I wanted to read the rest of Acevedo's backlist, and it instantly became my favorite of hers

Queenie

Queenie, a 20-something Londoner of Jamaican heritage, was a flawed yet fresh character I really grew to love as she discovered herself (despite some choices that she made about shirking work duties and questionable sexual encounters on her journey there, which make type-A me squirm) and discovered her voice as a woman in today's world and as a Black woman straddling two cultures. With Queenie you get a coming of age that's a bit older than that childhood/young adulthood transition; here she is really learning some real adulting, with plenty of missteps in terms of managing work-life balance, handling finances, being in bad relationships, and navigating truly leaving the nest of her family's expectations. With that we see a major mental health journey too, in which through hitting rock-bottom and finding therapy she comes to her true identity hidden beneath some of her past trauma (which has been leading to her low self-esteem or harmful choices). The blurbs compare this Queenie to Bridget Jones's Diary meets Americanah; not entirely sure how I feel about this description, but I did see some elements of both with the single woman in London going out with her friends and having bad luck with dating combined with the strong Black immigrant perspective. And in that vein, I read Girl, Woman, Other a few months after Queenie and loved how it had even more perspectives of British Black women, with a range of immigrant experiences, socio-economic classes, sexual orientations, etc. and explored how these women each came into their own despite struggles or setbacks. These books are great in conversation with each other, so I highly recommend the other if you liked the one!

4/5 stars, feels like a more grown up YA coming of age (a 20s millennial instead) with a very honest yet witty tone 

Funny enough, as I was writing up this post I was finishing reading Ordinary Grace, which is a classic coming of age story - a 13-year-old boy in 1960s small-town Minnesota whose life outlook and faith are changed forever over the course of one summer in which he encounters 5 deaths in his community, some hitting closer to home than others. If you liked This Tender Land, I would say this one has similar vibes in pacing and style and protagonist - but is even better.

But as for more non-traditional coming of age stories, a couple of books mentioned in the Novel Pairings podcast episode that I've reviewed (and really enjoyed!) previously are great examples of the non-traditional age for a coming of age: The Switch (kind of a rom-com, absolutely loved that one entire storyline was about a grandma in her 80s finding new life/love), Writers & Lovers (a character having a late coming of age, finally finding her footing in terms of creative work and life in her 30s), All Adults Here (grown kids coming back to their mom's house and all having to come to some kind of new identity, not least understand their mom's identity when she comes out in her 60s), and also The Song of Achilles (traditional coming of age as Patroclus and Achilles go from boyhood to manhood in learning to be soldiers, but also as Patroclus, who never fits in with the soldiers finds his own identity and purpose instead in the medical tents during the Trojan War).

Whew, that's a lot of great books (and long reviews because I needed to gush a little) - something for everyone here though!

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wearing lately: current uniform

I keep talking about dress weather, because that is ideal for pregnancy style, but we're not getting much of it with this fickle and relatively chilly spring season - so here's been my actual uniform: maternity jeans + tee with a cardigan. Basic? Definitely. Boring? Well, at least there's cute shoes to add some interest and pretty trees in bloom for a backdrop...

If you've still got to be wearing a wool cardigan mid-way through May, might I suggest going for a happy pink, and picking some springy shoes? 

I have had this pair of embroidered Soludos slides for years and they never get old - highly recommend as a way to accessorize a simple outfit, which also comes in handy in the summer when it gets really hot and you just need to put on a plain dress but then pow! you still have a whole snazzy ensemble thanks to the shoes (see last week's outfit, for example, minus the actual hot weather, and plus a cardigan...ha!). In any case, I think I might need their tulip pair next given my deep and abiding love of them, and of course where I live, but look how many cute options!

 

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five things Friday: latest obsessions edition

Been a bit quiet on the blogging front lately as I am more and more busy with work stuff to prep for maternity leave, more and more tired with all of this pregnancy insomnia, and more and more just kinda wanting to be out walking or reading when the sun is out, rather than at a computer... but I'm popping in today with a few things I can't get enough of in my offline life lately - too good not to share.

1. Rothy's sneakers: the slip-ons were my favorite shoe of last summer, but I have always loved a good pair of white tennies to wear with dresses and jeans - problem is that they get so dirty. But Rothy's are machine washable! Plus they are the most comfortable pair of white sneakers I have had, and cute to boot, so now I finally have a pair that should last me longer than 1 summer before needing to be replaced, and I'm wearing them a lot.  

2. Yasso Greek yogurt bars: not sure how I came to first add a box of these to my Target order, but I cannot get enough of them. It's basically a creamier, amped-up with brownie bits + chocolate swirl fudgsicle. Very satisfying as my nightly treat, and I can pretty legit say I'm also eating it for the baby as they have a decent amount of protein and calcium for a treat... I only wish my Target had some more of their products on offer - the ice cream sandwiches and chocolate-covered ice cream bars definitely sound good based on how much I like the fudge bars! 

3. Being vaccinated! I'm more than two weeks out from my 2nd Covid vaccine dose and grateful to have it. Pregnancy brings higher risk of illness, so I'm happy to take away some of that worry for myself, and to be providing some conferred immunity to the baby. But on top of that, we have been able to have dinner with our parents again and have Hendrik play at their houses, so delightful! Still avoiding anything indoors/unmasked with unvaccinated people/strangers since Hendrik is of course too young to be vaccinated, but now when the weather actually warms up Peter and I actually have some outdoor dining date night opportunities on the horizon, and an overnight getaway too. That's about all we need to feel a bit more normal right now - but also I have been taking Hendrik to the library once a week to browse (masked, of course) and the other day took him on a bike ride and stopped at the candy store (he was SO excited), things that we didn't feel very comfortable with before and are enjoying having back in our lives now. It's the little things. All that to say: I was really tired and arm-sore the day after my 2nd dose, but 10/10 would recommend this whole vaccination thing... protect yourself, your family, your community and those who are too young or immunocompromised to get vaccinated, and gain a little bit of normalcy and human connection back in your life!

4. Solo stove: I've mentioned this early Christmas gift from my parents before, which we managed to use a bit before winter set in. Now that the weather's warming up it's making a reappearance, and it's such a fun way to have a bit of "weekend" feel to a weekend, even while still staying home (but we are looking forward to having more friends/family gather with us now that many are vaccinated and we're starting to see people more!). Bonus that this stove has a quite easy setup and cleanup, which Peter does most of the work for, which means that it also can serve as a super easy non-cooking dinner option for me - hot dogs roasted on our nice sticks or "pizza sandwiches" in our pie irons, plus s'mores for dessert, and we don't even have to wash any dishes... we just burn the paper plates. Ha!

5. Dyson hair dryer: this was my Mother's Day surprise - something I had heard amazing things about but never really considered or talked to Peter about, but he got me one and I love it. Yes, a pricey machine, but it dries my hair so much faster without overheating me, and so much smoother that I can get away without using a flat iron. Combine this and this week's long-overdue haircut (another boon of being fully vaccinated - got a haircut and a prenatal massage on the calendar this week!!), and I am a new woman.

Hope you are enjoying some latest & greatest things in your own life that bring some joy or ease or deliciousness, and have a great weekend too!

wearing lately: stretchy stuff

Midi t-shirt dresses seem to be a "thing" again this summer, for which I am glad, because this was a style I was very into last summer. So easy to wear, and feels somehow like a more fresh and snazzy outfit than a standard t-shirt dress. Thus, here we have an outfit that's pretty darn similar to what I posted last year with my beloved Everlane option that I wore several times every week. 

Even better for me this year though is that stretchy midi t-shirt dresses are on offer out there...such as this new number from Target (!).

Stretchy is always pleasant to wear of course, especially as we ease back into the world of real clothes from the loungewear of quarentimes, but by this point in a pregnancy it's not only a must in terms of being able to fit onto my body but also in terms of feeling more flattering for me personally. There are plenty of roomy dresses on offer right now too that I could shop the "regular" section for and would totally try on in any other summer - like this or this, so cute! - but I just feel better fitting my shape in pregnancy rather than tenting over it (except for that outie belly button - don't love it, but what's to be done). So this is best of all worlds for me - don't have to shop the maternity section and its either paltry or over-expensive options, but it still works and looks/feels good! 

Not just great for me though - this is a cute and super affordable option for anyone. Here are some other similarly stretchy (i.e. comfy and cute) options I spotted as well:

currently

consuming: avocado toast. Protein smoothies. Varieties of ethnic cuisine and spicy foods. It's for the baby! Working on growing him strong, and developing those taste buds in utero too. And the ice cream... well, that's just because I want it, really, but happy to use him as an excuse anyway.

exploring: the idea of a birthday/babymoon/very belated anniversary weekend away with Peter now that all of the grandparents and I are vaccinated, so we will hopefully be safe in having Hendrik spend more extended time with them. When Rachel talked about her stay in one of these adorable Getaway Houses in the woods, I immediately wanted to book a tiny cabin myself - and turns out there is a site not too far from us! (And also, let's be honest, even vaccinated we're not ready to do actual travel/tourist things/restaurants yet, with how bad the community Covid spread is in Michigan, so this woodsy option is perfect for that too). 

 

getting: a little anxious about all the extra work I have to do to prep for maternity leave. It's hassle enough to fill someone in on all of the tasks that I do that nobody else ever is involved with (or maybe even realizes happen) that I took only a pretty short one with Hendrik - but I am determined to have my full 12 weeks this time and not think about work during it, so that's a lot of up-front prep time now. Getting excited to snuggle a baby in my arms instead of getting kicked by him from the inside, so I will try to focus on that to power through the hassles...

hoping: for some more dress-wearing weather soon. Spring is so fickle around here... teasing us with a few glorious days, then back to chilly and gloomy. Highs in the 50s just aren't cutting it for me right now, and neither are waistbands... I've got a pretty good collection of regular dresses that work for maternity, so I'm excited to be able to finally be able to wear this, this, and this much more!

seeing: as many tulips as possible while they're in bloom around town! Most Tulip Time events are cancelled again this year, but we've still got our thousands of tulips to peep - so as usual the only walking and running routes I take this time of year are down Tulip Lane or through one of the local parks that has big beds of tulips. So pretty.

What are you currently up to? Link up a post below, and then join us again on June 2 for an early summer edition: celebrating, collecting, gifting, thinking, and trying. 

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wearing lately: sweater blazer for the working woman

Recently I was pleased to be asked by Kimi to contribute to a guest series on her blog on "working woman style." It was fun to fill out her questionnaire and talk about my work a bit; also enjoyed reminiscing a bit about my work style, since it's kind of non-existent these days (already limited since I always work from home, but there's been no work travel to plan for in over a year now...). To learn a bit more about my day job and working woman style philosophy, definitely go and check out the post! Meanwhile, since the oh-so-worth-it sweater blazer came up SO much as a staple in my answers, I thought I would re-feature some of my past outfits with it that are appropriate for work - and also work Zooms, since that's the only reason to put on anything even semi-professional these days...

What I love about the sweater blazer, aside from how it can be so comfy and chic simultaneously, and how versatile it is, is that it looks work-appropriate but also fits into regular life outfits (I mean, wouldn't this be so lovely for a Sunday brunch, if I ever go out for such a thing again?). So it may be a bit of an investment (though they're constantly having sales), but it gets use in work life and weekend life, and is totally worth it.

Ah, when I used to go places... white jeans were a favorite for spring in the before-times. I miss them and outfits like this. Just as appropriate for work or church as it is for feeling snazzy running some errands. Talk about a versatile wardrobe item.

 

This is the ultimate in quarentimes Zoom outfits - leggings and sneakers on bottom means I could hop over to my yoga mat right after the call if I wanted, but stripes and sweater blazer on top means I look the part of productive employee. And also I get to feel like I'm wearing loungewear all the while.

This is another favorite way for me to turn my regular wardrobe into workwear - since I don't need workwear very often, except when I (used to) travel. Putting a blazer over a casual-ish jumpsuit or dress turns it professional, so I don't need any specific "work" clothes for the few times that workwear is required of me.

And here's a great example of the sweater blazer for work travel - easy to bring along in a mini mix & match capsule. Keeps me warm on the plane with my casual wear, and turns a standard black tank dress into a meeting-appropriate one.

For more working woman style thoughts (beyond just singing the praises of the sweater blazer) check out my guest spot on Kimi's blog - and then check out some of her other posts! I've followed along with Kimi's work style journey for years, from grad school to grown-up job to quarentimes, and I always love seeing the smart and sustainable ways she carefully builds her wardrobe to be something that is friendly to a budget, the earth, and mixing & matching possibilities - definitely you should check out her style sudoku posts, some of my favorites.